Bitcoins are becoming popular to more and more people all over the world. It has gained popularity because of several advantages, anonymity being one of them. It has gained its share of detractors who say that bitcoins are vessels used for illicit affairs.

What are bitcoins?

Introduced in 2008, bitcoin is the brainchild of Satoshi Nakamoto. No one knows who Nakamoto really is. He created the concept of the bitcoins as a digital currency that is secure and encrypted.

Mathematics is the foundation of bitcoins. Instead of gold and silver as basis, Satoshi created a digital currency that is secure and electronically held. Bitcoins are mined using computers, following a digital protocol. Every ten minutes, a computer mines a bitcoin. Bitcoin protocol limits the bitcoins in distribution to only 21 million. This cap in the distribution increased the value of the bitcoin. Speculators who invested in bitcoins got a break as the bitcoin values increased over the years.

The main allure of bitcoins is decentralization. It means there is no bank that regulates it. There are no paper trails associated with bitcoins, unlike traditional money. Acceptance of bitcoins has increased in the last few years.

How do I get bitcoins?

There are computers termed as miners who compete to get a bitcoin chunk every ten minutes. These bitcoins can be divided into smaller pieces. Right now, the smallest portion is called a satoshi, which is one millionth of a bitcoin.

You can buy bitcoins from merchants. As the interest in bitcoins increases, more and more investors become interested to put up exchanges that would allow you to invest in bitcoins. The value fluctuates, depending on the prevailing market economy. The law of supply and demand applies. If there is a surplus of stock, the price goes down. If there is an interest in buying and only a few people selling, the price goes up.

The price of bitcoins depends on the country you are in. Because of investor speculation and interest, the value of bitcoins can move up or down at any given time, on any given day.

How do I store bitcoins?

Like any fiat based currency, you need a wallet to store your bitcoins in. The difference is that these bitcoin wallets are electronic in nature and you do not have any physical evidence of ownership. Aside from your password access and some printouts, you have to trust the system to keep your bitcoins and records for you.

You can go with a software wallet that stores your bitcoins’ information in your hard drive. This is a much safer alternative than the one mentioned previously. You just have to back up your data every few days or so to keep it safe if your drive gets corrupted.

What is a bitcoin currency converter?

Like real world money, you can exchange bitcoins with other users to a different altcoin currency or to real money. The electronic trading posts support the exchange of bitcoins all over the world. And because each country has a different currency and each country has a different value tagged to bitcoins, a currency converter for bitcoins is essential. Using a currency converter would allow you to transform your bitcoins into real money via bank transfers, wire transfers or direct crediting to your accounts or debit cards. You can do person-to-person trading where you will have to decide on an acceptable rate. The bitcoin currency converter gives you an idea of the prevailing rate based on the current market conditions. This way, you will not be defrauded in any way. You will get an idea as to what to expect.

There are several bitcoin currency converters available on the internet. Most of them are free to use. You can even embed them in your website to give you easy access any time you want. These currency converters give a service that is important and has a niche.

Trading Call

You can use these currency converters to get rich, but not that quick. It all still depends on the current market conditions. You can invest and hope your investment pays off in a few months or so. You can speculate and invest more and take the risk. But, using the bitcoin currency converter would be essential so you don’t get short on any kind of transaction you will make.